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How-To Geek

Running unsigned code on the Xbox360 requires a bit of know how and a specific plan tailored to your particular model/chipset. A freshly released hack, however, works on every version of the Xbox.

Dubbed the “Reset Glitch Hack” (it uses a pulse of electricity to disrupt communication with a specific chip on the 360 motherboard during the authentication process thus opening the door for unsigned code and a boot loader) it’s an effective hack for people who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. You’ll need to be comfortable soldering, shelling out a small amount of money for the various supplies and microchips you’ll need for the job, and of course no worries about potentially ruining your console with a soldering job gone bad.

The great appeal of the hack, in the face of those things, is that it currently works on every Xbox model out there including the un-JTAGable Xbox 360 Slim. The only downside, risk of damaging your Xbox aside, is that it can take up to 2 minutes to boot since the electric pulse has a 25% chance of disrupting chip communication (and continues to pulse until it gets the timing just right). As a result you’re looking at slightly longer boot times. Not a bad trade off for a works-on-any-machine hack.

Jason Fitzpatrick is a warranty-voiding DIYer who spends his days cracking opening cases and wrestling with code so you don't have to. If it can be modded, optimized, repurposed, or torn apart for fun he's interested (and probably already at the workbench taking it apart). You can follow him on Twitter if you'd like.

DID YOU KNOW?

The flag of Nova Scotia was flown for 155 years before it was formally adopted; it was only formally adopted after an 11 year-old girl’s school research project revealed that at no point in the preceding century and a half had the Canadian province actually voted on the matter.